The Fat Of The Land

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.82) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (8/7/97, pp.59-60) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...packs all the visceral punch of rock at its incendiary best....populist electro punk that serves as a perfect Brit counterpart to the industrial noir of Trent Reznor or the jittery soundscapes of Wu-Tang Clan's RZA..." Spin (p.86) - "'80s planet-rock rap pushing and biting like Killing Joke art-metal, with Middle Eastern and classical parts, Breeders riffs, and an L7 cover..." Spin - "THE FAT OF THE LAND's opening five tracks jump consistently, the bass lines either superhooky or subdub deep that it doesn't matter." Spin (1/98, p.87) - Ranked #20 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year." Spin (9/97, p.155) - 7 (out of 10) - "...maybe the best fusion of pseudo-rap and pseudo-punk since Rage Against The Machine..." Entertainment Weekly (7/11/97, pp.65-66) - "...Prodigy leader and beat master Liam Howlett has made THE FAT OF THE LAND harder, more subterranean, more diverse, and more vocal-oriented than previous Prodigy records....This is dance music not about release but aggression, making it ideal party music for the end of the century..." - Rating: B Q (6/00, p.70) - Ranked #47 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...This was Keeping It Real, Essex-style, a uniquely British spin on contemporary US influences, rooted in the dance revolution....somewhere for rock and rave to meet in pursuit of instant thrills..." Q (10/01, p.46) - Ranked #43 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" Q (12/99, p.92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Q (1/98, p.114) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #13 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year." Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. NME (Magazine) (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #17 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll. NME (Magazine) (6/28/97, p.54) - "...the first block rockin' post-Oasis amyl-techno-punk album....as well as reaffirming their position as head-warping slam-kings of the pop underground, [FAT OF THE LAND] seems set to be the ultimate party soundtrack both sides of the ocean..."

Few albums were as eagerly anticipated as The Fat of the Land, the Prodigy's long-awaited follow-up to Music for the Jilted Generation. By the time of its release, the group had two number one British singles with "Firestarter" and "Breathe" and had begun to make inroads in America. The Fat of the Land was touted as the album that would bring electronica/techno to a worldwide audience (Of course, in Britain, the group already had a staggeringly large following that was breathlessly awaiting the album.) The Fat of the Land falls short of masterpiece status, but that isn't because it doesn't deliver. Instead, it delivers exactly what anyone would expect: intense hip-hop-derived rhythms, imaginatively reconstructed samples, and meaningless shouted lyrics from Keith Flint and Maxim. Half of the album does sound quite similar to "Firestarter," especially when Flint is singing. Granted, Liam Howlett is an inventive producer, and he can make empty songs like "Smack My Bitch Up" and "Serial Thrilla" kick with a visceral power, but he is at his best on the funky hip-hop of "Diesel Power" (which is driven by an excellent Kool Keith rap) and "Funky Shit," as well as the mind-bending neo-psychedelia of "Narayan" (featuring guest vocals by Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker) and the blood-curdling cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire," which features vocals by Republica's Saffron. All those guest vocalists mean something -- Howlett is at his best when he's writing for himself or others, not his group's own vocalists. "Firestarter" and all of its rewrites capture the fire of the Prodigy at their peak, and the remaining songs have imagination that give the album weight. The Fat of the Land doesn't have quite enough depth or variety to qualify as a flat-out masterpiece, but what it does have to offer is damn good. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine